RTI Applicant Asked To Pay Rs 1L As Printing Charges.

Kashmir Observer : Aquib Javed: Srinagar: Saturday, August 19, 2023.

In a bizarre move, the Public Works (R&B) department has asked a Right to Information (RTI) applicant to pay Rs 1 lakh as printing charges for the information he has sought under RTI act of 2005.

According to a notice, a copy of which lies with Kashmir Observer, the chief Executive Engineer of R&B department Sumbal has asked the applicant Tariq Ahmad Parray to deposit the amount first for preparing the information.

Parray has sought the information regarding the utilization of funds for construction purposes in Hajin area of North Kashmir’s Bandipora district from 2018 till date, including with names of building, road and allied works executed by R&B department. The applicant has also sought the certified attested copies of NOCs issued for the building permission purposes from 2018 till date.

“This is being done only to demoralize the RTI applicants,” said Dr. Raja Muzaffar Bhat, founder and chairman of Jammu & Kashmir RTI Movement. Dr Muazaffar told Kashmir Observer that the officials have violated the rules under RTI act and has requested the LG administration to intervene into the matter. He further said that the department is supposed to digitize the whole record as per sec 4 of RTI act 2005.

“The latter doesn’t specify how many pages they have to photocopy and if they are charging 1 lakh that means they have to photocopy 50 thousand pages which is highly impossible,” Dr Muzaffar added.

Despite repeated attempts, AEE of the R & B department didn’t receive the calls of the reporter.